Posted

Some Videos I found posted on facebook.

Optical Illusions:


Ellen DeGeneres Discusses Recent Tragic Death


Slip of the Tongue- YT Anti-Racism

I am a Strong Woman of Color!!

I've been keeping a skin journal and it's helped me understand my "unique skin."
I draw little diagrams and write down detailed explanations of my skin related activities; it's cute, really.

These are my conclusions after a month and a half:
-ProActiv helps, but it isn't the solution because I stopped using it for 4 weeks and haven't suffered.
-Hydroquinone, the active ingredient in almost ALL Scar fading products, does nothing.
-Sulfur Mask + Other products = Intense break out
-Falling asleep without washing face = fatal facial consequences
-I am required to use some form or RetinA at night
-Moisturizer helps a lot!
-I think I may have sensitive skin

You may say, why don't I just take pictures of my skin? Well, I do... I compare pictures from my monthly gay clubbing outings at Dragon because it's in the same lighting and same time of day. It's brilliant really. My skin's been improving slightly, but I'm still scared. What's going on? I still have that heart on my cheek and the marks are just piling up! Is there no solution!?!

June 07, November 07, December 07, February 08

I've talked to a handful of friends whose skin have impressed me and discovered that they all use St Ives Apricot scrub. Ironically, the cheapest shit possible is the most popular among my friends who exhibit pure skin perfection. I used that shit throughout college and it was a bit harsh on my skin, but maybe because I was scrubbing it as if I was pissed at the world. Plus they have a new gentle formula. Hmm

My mom has been getting on my case to try Eskinol. It's a Pilipino product that her friend recommends. According to my mom, I need to buy over the counter Clindamycin capsules, break them open and mix it with the Eskinol. I can find this at Lion Plaza. I'm like HELL NO. But my mom keeps mentioning it. Sigh. Every day I start my morning with Hot water... isn't that enough?!

Mony and I found this new product line at Walgreens called AMBI.
Mony bought this fading cream with little hesitation and I did some Internet research at home and found that it's skincare for Women of COLOR!!

OMG! THAT'S ME!
Provides Women of African, Latin, and South Heritage scientifically proven solutions to meet their unique skincare needs... wait a minute... THEY MISSPELLED SKINCARE! Hmm.. maybe this isn't such a great idea.

Anyway. Maybe that's my problem! I've been going to Supercuts when I should be going to Forever Cut 2, I've been drinking coffee when I should be drinking tea! I've been using white people skin care when I should be using Women of Color Skin Care! OMG!!!

AMBI® recognizes that women of African, Latin and South Asian heritage often face unique skincare challenges in keeping their skin clear and even toned due to the melanin in their skin. Melanin is a natural substance that gives color or pigment to skin and gives skin its rich, beautiful tone. However, melanin also may make skin more vulnerable to marks and uneven tone. Therefore, it is important for women with rich skin tones to have products that have been designed specifically to keep their skin clear and even toned.

MELANIN! DUH!!! DARK PIGMENTATION! DUH! IT ALL MAKES SENSE!!!
The answers: right in front of me. I am a strong woman of color and I need to use skin products that meet my woman of color needs! Finally, a product that understands my unique lifestyle! Man, I'm ready to feel all sorts of powerful!

Wish me luck! I'll tell you if my skin becomes as clear and even as Cleopatra!!

YES YES YES!

I feel awesome 'cuz I just got a GREAT haircut!

Ok. No one knows how to cut my hair... I figure because of my face shape, my big forehead and my 3 cowlicks in the back.

And you know me, I am VERY particular about hair!
I was thrilled when I found this place on Thornwood where this girl did it perfectly! Then, she got pregnant. I tried her coworkers, but even though I pointed to a picture, somehow, she hacked it all off! (remember December?)

I was debating to grow it out.. because I can, but then I didn't want to look like Danny from American IDOL TMTH! Or my twin brother Nate. I vowed never to grow it out when I had it long in 2004; it looked pretty nasty. Like Mowgli from Jungle Book even. Sometimes I wish I had white people hair... with some texture and waves. So I can do the whole blow dry thing. Sigh... but that wouldn't be me. Should I get a light perm?! Haha, shut up.

I did some research and found this place called New Trends off Monterey Hwy.
I gave them a call.

" Forever Cut 2. How may Aye Hep yoo?"
"How much is a Men's Haircut?"
"10 Dolla"

Apparently they changed the name.

I should have known it was Asian by the name: Forever Cut 2? Might as well be Pho 56. Gosh, makes no sense at all! Like a cut that lasts forever? Or a cut that's so good that you want to get it there ...forever?! Oh well. I brought in some pictures and she made me happy cuz she used thinning sheers and NO buzzer! SWEET! She was very confident. Though I couldn't see what se was doing because I had to take off my glasses. Smart right?

When she was done, it didn't look like I got a haircut at all. She explained that she needed to style it. So I let her.. and omg, it looked horrible. Sigh. I thought to myself.. no one knows how to cut my hair. I gave her a tip anyway and thanked her in Vietnamese. She was stunned, "you're a Vietnamese person" she proclaimed in Vietnamese. I smiled nodded and walked away. I love surprising people. DO I look that alien?

I rushed home to fix it and to my surprise, with my trusty Got2Be Glued hair styling glue, my haircut was fabulous. I called the place and asked for her name: Vicky, "Ill be requesting you next time! thank you !" She didn't know what to say.

Yes! hopefully she doesn't die, or get pregnant. Woot!

Baby Pictures

In Kindergarten, I was "Kid of the Week." Of course all kids got an opportunity to be celebrated at my privileged private Kindergarten. My dad made this elaborate poster and I had it in my closet for years. I decided to scan the pictures in, laminate the poster and store it. Here are some of my baby pics for your amusement.


1 Day//1 Month


4 Month

9 Month


1 Year



2 Years


3 Years


4 Years


5 Years

If you were wondering, I was a light-skinned kid. When I started swimming in high school, my tan sort of stuck. Hmm... I wonder what I would look like now with light skin.

Video Blog Take Two

Ironically, I think my first video was more interesting.

I'm just trying to get used to being in front of a camera and failing miserably.
Sigh.

Don't watch it, waste to of time.

Monyrith told me not to Video blog until I have something REALLY interesting to say.. otherwise, it will suck. Hehe... so I'm going to just leave it at that. Woot.

Hanging with the Cousins

The good thing about being home is that family is much closer. Last Thursday I went out to celebrate my cousin's birthday. I suggested Bolansa and my cousins LOVED the "perfectly seasoned" broth of the noodle dishes that they ordered. I was happy since it was a dessert place and I hate suggesting a place and finding out that it was the source of food poisoning.

My friends stopped by and told me that my cousins were HOT. Well duh. We're a hot family.



After, we headed to go roller skating! LOVED IT! I was dying to go, but no one would go with me. It makes me sad because it's obviously a dying activity. The roller rink was pretty empty even though it was family night. I wished this generation of kids went to the roller rink instead of myspaced all day. It's like mental retardation. Myspace = mental retardation. Roller skating = enlightenment and answers to the question of life.


My cousins were impressed with my moves. I was trying to get beat skating down where you would hop on the second beat of the song while you skated. I almost got it. I love skating to Salt and Peppa and Carwash! Oo Oo ! oo Oo!


After that we had my cousin's cake on my truck bed because of the stupid rink regulations. No plates, no knives = dig right in! Look at the damage we did on the strawberry filled Tres Leches cake!



I love family.

==================================================================

This passed weekend I made plans to take a hip hop class with my crazy salsa dancing, corporate power woman, wedding planning cousin. We both got dressed like hot hip hop dancers and drove to Berkeley.

But.. we were late and missed the class. Instead we had lunch at the Durant Food Court. HAHA aka the Asian Ghetto.

Okay, this is my favorite, "Korean" dish. It's called Mushroom Fried Noodle. I really don't think it's Korea because it's not red or BBQed. Hmm, but I missed it because I used to order it when I went to Cal.




We talked about family and my brother and what's the best thing to do... she gave me some good insight.

My brother is a good kid. But he is bored. According to my cousin, he doesn't have fear; which is different from how the older cousins were raised. At some point in our lives, we were scared of our parents and responsibilities were piled on. My brother: not scared. Not scared of failing, not scared of messing up. On every report card there is a C and my parents merely say, "do better next time." With no fear, he has no motivation and just coasts along. Average is good enough... but what about college?

My parents aren't strict, but they do care. I feel that for his personality type, being strict would have probably been beneficial because he lacks discipline. But it's too late to switch strategies.

According to my cousin, he needs to have an "OH fuck" moment. He needs to fail BIG time to realize that online games that have stunt his maturity and he needs to wake up to the world around him...that there are choices for him to make that will affect him later. "I'm here to help, but you need to approach me." How many times can I say that?! I've been saying this since the beginning of the year: How do you teach motivation? But it's not clicking.

Maybe NOT getting college is the big failure he needs to have that life changing epiphany... OR not getting into college will cause him fall into deeper depression and exacerbate his indifference and apathy and he'll become a vegetable in his room playing online games and myspace until he's 30!!!!

Am I overconcerned? Probably.
But I'm not ready to watch my brother fail, even if it MIGHT benefit him in the end.
If the policy is "it's his life, as long as he's happy,".... I need to take a deep breath because that's definitely a hard concept to accept when our parents struggled so much and he manages to be... just average.

Vietnamese with Glasses

I have a list of people to chill with and Michelle was on the top of my list!

Woot.

When I arrived I found the perfect parking spot right outside her door of her cute SF apartment.  As I was parking, she came out.  Perfect!

The evening started with some Back to the Future II!  I love the 80's interpretation of 2015!  That's like tomorrow!  Wow flying cars in 7 years!  Brilliant!  

After we went to this awesome restaurant called Poleng.  It was a great date place.  It was hip and sexy!  Not to mention, the food was delicious.  Was it the food?  or the company?  What do YOU think Michelle?  

One of the kids I just met that night told the table a story:

"Yeah... so I was on the airlines and..."  she paused, look at me and said, "I'm sorry.." then she looked at everyone else, "the stewardesses were REALLY Gay!" 

Are you serious? Was I a representative of the Gay Stewardess association?  WTF?  "Wait.. why are you apologizing?"  "Oh.. because you know..."  

Wow.  Ig Nor Ant. I really didn't know what to say.  I guess she saw the rainbow bleeding from my ears and wanted to apologize before potentially making a homo-offensive comment.  Whatever.  The food was so delicious, it masked her retardation.

After, we headed to a Pub.  It was a purely beer place and I got a Cider.  Shut up.  

Harriet and friends were there and I managed to catch up with some good people.  Kalvin surprised me because he was really friendly; asking me how I was and updating me on his life.  I love people like that.  <3

I was talking to Clifford.  

"What fruit do you think they used in this beer?"

"Dude, I don't know."

"...hmm  Passion Fruit?"

"...dude, don't do that!"

"Do what?"

"Look at me like that and say..   pppasssssssion  frruit." Cliff drags out the words like he's seducing me.

"WHAT?!"

Apparently I was hitting on Cliff.   "You're ALWAYS flirting with Cliff!!!" proclaimed Michelle.  But.. I .. I didn't...   damn it.  Maybe I should have apologized for my nonchalant homosexuality.  Am I sending signals I don't know about to everyone I encounter!??!?!

We changed scenes and it was chill.  Inga from Cal Taiko joined us so I took the opportunity to send her shady text messages like, "god, you're so hot."  "I want you now!"  "let's meet in the bathroom."  I thought she knew it was me because she was playing along.  I started to snicker when she started to freak out.  "WHO IS 408!?!?!"  LOL, no one knew.  Come on, who else would it be?  I continued to be amused with Kalvin while he was telling "you KNOW when you're in Vietnam when...."  stories.  He managed to captivate my side of the table.  

Somehow we ended up at a Korea place.  What IS KOREAN FOOD!??!  BBQ and the flavor RED?  Someone PLEASE save me from my darkness.  I was hoping this place would shed some light.  It was 3:00am and the only people who managed to stumble in were hookers and drunks.  This one kid stumbled in, hit a table and fell backwards on his back.  Shit, i should have taken a picture.  But I didn't want to be accosted by his scary gangster Korean buddies.

Oh, and we got this dish.  It was the Flavor Red.  I liked the Rice sticks because they reminded me of Mozzarella sticks.  I LOVE CHEESE!

The next day.  Michelle and I discussed my Video blogging potential and did some Photobooth. We got some cute hole in the wall cafe food and I headed home.

Aww, Michelle is a WONDERFUL host.  This girl will always be my friend.  ...  cuz... we're both Vietnamese with glasses.